


When You Say Forever, I Believe

by stellarisms



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Multiple Crossovers, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 15:39:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7720360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarisms/pseuds/stellarisms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s only fair that I should be the one to chase you across ten, twenty-five, a hundred lifetimes.</p><p>Until I find the one where you’ll return to me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When You Say Forever, I Believe

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the KagaKuro AU Exchange on Tumblr.

_Inspired by:_

_“[ 21 Lives ](http://s2b2.livejournal.com/142934.html)” by tongari_

 

* * *

 

**[ 1 ]**

 

**_The very first time I remember you,_ **

**_you are blonde,_ **

**_and you don’t love me back._ **

 

His eyes are red.

 

That’s the one and only thing that resembles him now, Tetsuya knows.

 

Still, it takes little more than a glance to tell.  

 

Tetsuya catches sight of him and _knows_.  

 

It’s the first time since the memories resurfaced.

 

It’s like meeting him for the first time all over again.  

 

Paler.  

 

Shorter.  

 

His hair color is lighter, too, and his features are rounder than when they first encountered one another.

 

It was...ages ago.

 

Lifetimes ago.

 

He is different in this one.  Tetsuya is, too.  

 

Their names, their backgrounds.  

 

The timing especially.

 

But your college years are meant to be when you find yourself, isn’t it?  

 

Or something.

 

“Our new TA, yeah?”  His clear voice shatters Tetsuya’s thoughts, along with an accent that Tetsuya doesn’t recognize.  “Saito Kazuha.  Nice t’meetcha!  So -- how long has Teach gotcha workin’ for him, one semester or two?”  

 

Tetsuya, politely, smiles.

 

“For as long as I’m a student here,” Tetsuya tells him.  “The university has me down as an Early Childhood Education major, but my intention is to switch within a couple more semesters.  I thought it would be best to get my general Education courses done first.”

 

“Well, sure.”  Kazuha is flippant.  “Ain’t that the whole idea?”

 

Tetsuya, unexpectedly, begins to laugh.

 

“Not for everyone,” Tetsuya retorts, shaking his head at how little has changed about his beloved person’s.  “But it’s nice to know you think like that...and it’s nice to meet you, too, Saito-kun.”

 

Some things never change, it seems.

 

Even if, Tetsuya decides right then and there, it would certainly be nice if they did.

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 2 ]**

_The next time_

_you are brunette_

_and you do._

 

“Tecchan,” Taiga calls for him, somewhere above Tetsuya.  “You fell asleep in here again?”

 

Submerged as he is, Tetsuya can’t answer back.

 

“It’s...Sunday.”  Tetsuya remarks when he surfaces with a wild shake of his sodden black hair.  “You didn’t come here to walk with me to school, I hope.”

 

“Obviously.”  Taiga huffs -- but fond, always fond.  “Aquarium day with Takao and Midorima, remember?”

 

“Oh.”  A mild reaction.  Tetsuya isn’t one for dramatic displays of surprise; that’s more Takao’s territory.  “Did you hear back from Daiki about meeting up with us?”

 

Of course he did

 

“Nah,” Taiga shakes his head.  “If he’s comin’ at all, it’ll be a surprise.  Well, surprise as far as Momoi’s coming along with...and Kise’ll probably join up and bring his Samezuka crew after that!”

 

“And after that, I suppose,” quips Tetsuya, sensing as much from Taiga’s tone, “it wouldn’t be much of a double-date, now would it?”

 

They’ve always closer than close.

 

“W-Well.  I mean-- normally, I’d say the more the merrier.”  Taiga reaches out to Tetsuya from outside the bath.  “Just, you know.  Not today.  Too much broth spoils any good cook, right?”

 

Close enough to know each other a little too well.

 

“It’s the other way around,” Tetsuya sighs and allows Taiga to help lift him out of the tub, “Taiga.”

 

It should trouble any ordinary pair of childhood friends turned Tokyo-bound lovers, that they can sense one another’s thoughts and emotions like this.

 

“Whoops.”  Sheepish, Taiga’s hand nearly lets Tetsuya’s slip.  “Sorry!”

 

“It’s okay,” Tetsuya means it, smile soft and fingers laced with the backstroke swimmer’s gentle grasp.  “As long as you get it right next time.”

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 3 ]**

**_After a while,_ **

**_I give up_ **

**_trying to guess_ **

**_if the colour of your hair_ **

**_means anything._ **

 

Strands silken and silver, thin threads fraying beneath the swell of already restitched fabric squares.

 

It’s careful work, Aiko-san’s crafting.

 

But Tetsuya doesn’t understand.  

 

His owner was usually so good at taking care of herself.  So good at placing reminders all around the house.

 

Vitamins, prescriptions, an unfailing diet.

 

Why did she have to get sick, Tetsuya wonders, when she was so healthy in all these years before?

 

Why did she have to go to the doctor’s this year -- of all years -- when she promised Mika and Kazuhiro that she would take that summer trip overseas with them?

 

Why, why, _why_ does Tetsuya feel such an unbearable emptiness, seeing Aiko-san’s hands quiver and quaver as they place down her quilt and sewing needle like this?

 

“My good little Tetsuya,” rasps Aiko-san, sun-spotted cheek resting cool and fleeting against Tetsuya’s scruff.  “You never stopped believing in me when I needed you most, did you?”

 

Tetsuya makes a plaintive noise, nudging his dry nose to her open palm.

 

“And they say dogs are a person’s best friend.”  Aiko-san chortles.  “They must not know you, Tetsuya.  Not like I do.”

 

Meow.  

 

It’s a weak, failing sound -- like Aiko-san’s laugh -- and Tetsuya wishes he could do more.  

 

Something, anything more than this.

 

“Hey, my little Tetsuya.”  And once again, Aiko-san’s hands reach out to brush the length of Tetsuya’s sleek grey fur.  “If you could talk like humans do, I wonder what you would tell me before I go...”

 

 _Don’t_ , mews Tetsuya, reaching back to give a slight nip to his beloved master’s fingertips, _say sad things like that._

 

 _Don’t_ , Tetsuya cries in the only language he knows when Aiko-san’s eyes start to slide downward, _leave me behind to fend for myself._

 

 _Please wake up,_ Tetsuya thinks, sends up a prayer to the sky like Aiko-san does whenever she feels lonely or uncertain, _when morning comes around again._

 

_May the morning bring back to your old smiling self again._

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 4 ]**

**_Because even when_ **

**_you don’t exist,_ **

**_I’m always in love with you._ **

 

A single illustration, sketched out and hardly complete.

 

But it’s an image Teruko can’t erase from her brain, one that’s haunted her dreams day and night for months on end.  

 

Ever since she started taking art classes, she’s had this.  Character in mind.

 

A character that refuses to leave her overactive imagination alone.

 

Someone wild yet incredibly pure.  

 

A teenage boy incredibly tall for his age, messy-haired, wearing a silver ring on a worn-out chain around his neck.

 

In some of her overnight fantasies, he is an ordinary high schooler -- like her -- who likes basketball and singing karaoke.

 

In some of her grandest delusions, he is a trained knight in armor that shines and sparkles underneath the midday medieval sun.

 

Even if he is not real, Teruko loves to bring him to life through drawings.

 

Even if he exists only within her imagination, Teruko can’t go a day without thinking about him.

 

Even if he is not hers, Teruko feels as though she might have met a person like this in another life.  

 

She might have met him another life and they might have even known each other.

 

(Someday, Teruko believes, she might meet this person again.  Someday, perhaps.)

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 5 ]**

**_I remember most fondly_ **

**_those lifetimes_ **

**_where we get to grow up together,_ **

**_when you share_ **

**_your secrets_ **

**_and sorrows_ **

**_and hiding places_ **

**_with me._ **

  


A commoner, a prince, and from today forward?  

 

King.

 

Tetsuya is proud.

 

“Tai,” says Tetsuya, a veritable whisper behind the draping sleeves of his robes.  “We’ve made it.”

 

“You said it,” grins Taiga.  Behind a perfectly professional smile, that is.  

 

After all, they’re still in the midst of a coronation ceremony.

 

When it’s over, though--

 

Oh, how Tetsuya longs for it to be over.

 

(But this?  

 

This glorious moment, where everything he and Taiga have worked so hard to fight for has at long last come to fruition?

 

No, not this.  Tetsuya does not wish for this to be where their time ends.)

 

Nevertheless, Tetsuya is proud of the bonds they’ve made.

 

Tetsuya is proud of the battles they’ve fought -- and won.

 

Tetsuya is far prouder, however, of the man who will rule kingdom of Sindria.

 

( _And you?  You’ll be my one and only advisor._

 

 **_Just_ ** _your advisor, Tai?_

 

 _Y-You know what I meant._ )

 

“Later,” King Taiga leans in to murmur as their eight trusted Generals take to the front stage, “meet me at the shore after everyone’s returned to their quarters?  We should have our own private celebration, you and I.”

 

“Of course.”  Tetsuya’s reply is more than audible, extra amicable, and punctuated by a sly little smile.  “Anything you wish, My King.”

 

They are, after all, celebrating a glorious day indeed...one that Tetsuya plans to reminisce most fondly.

 

* * *

 

**[ 6 ]**

**_I love how you play along_ **

**_with my bad ideas,_ **

**_before you grow up_ **

**_and realize_ **

**_they’re bad ideas._ **

 

“What do you mean,” huffs Kagami, “you can’t jump?”

 

“You’re repeating yourself,” deadpans Kuroko, poised at the other side of the net, “Kagami-kun.”

 

Kagami, to his credit, doesn’t seem particularly unaware of that much.

 

“I don’t.  Understand.  How the ever-loving fuck do you play volleyball _if you can’t_ _fucking jump?_ ”

 

“Language, Kagami-kun.  We are still in school.”  They’ve been here in the gymnasium so long that even Akashi-sensei decided he’s headed home for the evening.  Fortunately for the freshmen, he trusts Kuroko enough to take care of a key.  “Besides, you must know what a setter does by this point in your career.”

 

Kagami’s mouth opens, then snaps shut.

 

“Show me, then.”

 

“...Pardon?”

 

“I said,” Kagami almost looks embarrassed, “show me how you do it.  The whole ‘I Can Play V-Ball Without Jumping’ thing.”

 

So Kuroko does.

 

It’s incredible, how effortless Kagami makes it.

 

For him, especially.

 

(It doesn’t take much -- not when Kuroko can _see_ how Kagami will jump even before the taller first-year does.

 

It doesn’t take much -- not when Kuroko can sense the exact second when it’s right to aim, shoot, _release_.

 

It doesn’t take much -- not when Kuroko can remember another lifetime much like this one when, without being noticed, he was the shadow to Kagami’s ever-brilliant light.)

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 7 ]**

**_(And in our times together,_ **

**_I have many, many bad ideas.)_ **

 

It isn’t the first time that Taiga’s called out his reactions to their bizarre circumstances.

 

Nor will it be the last.

 

Granted, they both are young.  

 

Young enough where it’s acceptable for them to bicker and banter.

 

Old enough where they shouldn’t tug and shove one another like schoolchildren, though.

 

Their arguing gotten to the point where he’s surprised Alex Andra (what a ridiculous name, Tetsuya muses, for a straightforward woman who hardly seems the type to use an alias) hasn’t given them an earful for it.  

 

Tetsuya suspects it won’t be too much longer until she does.

 

He yells back, more on principle than anything else.

 

He snaps back and, a moment later, Taiga has him by the collar in the blink of an eye.

 

He forgets sometimes that Taiga’s training in Hamon is far, **far** more polished than his will likely ever be.

 

That lapse of memory is around when he ends up flat on his back, trapped by charged Hamon pulses that burn and sting his tough skin.

 

And, just like that, the battle is done before it’s begun.

 

(At least it isn’t the first -- nor the last -- that Tetsuya won’t be able to fight past the strange, strange feeling that wells up in his chest whenever he sees that self-satisfied smirk on Taiga’s face as he stares down at him.)

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 8 ]**

**_When we meet as adults,_ **

**_you’re always much more discerning._ **

 

“May I ask you something, Kagami-kun?”

 

“Hmm?  What’s up?”

 

“If we met...say, through some vastly different scenario than how we did...do you think we would get along?”

 

“...You mean not as a barista and a frequent customer who really likes a shitton of vanilla in her coffee?”

 

“Very funny, Kagami-kun.”

 

“I-I’m being serious!”

 

“I am too.”

 

“--What’re you going on about, anyway?”

 

“It just worries me, that’s all.

 

“ _What_ does?”

 

“Imagining a world where I never met Kagami-kun.”

 

“...Kuroko.”

 

“I know.  Fate can be rather cruel, sometimes, so I realize anything is possible.”

 

“That’s not.  What I meant.”

 

“Then…”

 

“Hey...you know…”

 

“!!  K-Kagami-kun--?”

 

“...You got a bit of cream on your nose.”

 

“...Ah.”

 

“W-What’s with that face…?  You look like Momoi did when you turned him down for that Sunday coffee date.”

 

“I probably do.”

 

“...??”

 

“Nothing.  Never mind, Kagami-kun.”

 

_Forget I even said anything._

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 9 ]**

**_I don’t blame you._ **

 

I love you.

 

I love you, I love you.

 

I love you.

 

More than I’ve ever dreamed possible.

 

More than I’ve ever dared to before.

 

Stay with me?

 

Live with me?

 

Say you’ll make me happy the way you have in so many lives before this one?

 

Ka(gami-kun)ori-san.

 

Ka(gami-kun)ori-san

 

Promise me, Kaori-san, that you won’t break your promise...okay?

 

This is my last request.  

 

My one and only wish.

 

Promise you won’t leave this world as afraid as I have.

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 10 ]**

**_Yet,_ **

**_always,_ **

**_you forgive me._ **

 

The magic--

 

It’s fading, **fast**.

 

Tetsuna is terrified.

 

Her Grief Seed is polluted.  

 

What once was a striking ruby clutched tight within a caged ring has barely any color left, let alone any power left to yield.

 

Yet Taiga continues to fight.

 

Strong, stalwart, sure-footed.  She is beautiful, gracious, passionate.  

 

Everything that Tetsuna is not.

 

Everything Tetsuna wishes she could make a part of her world.

 

But now-- Taiga’s life force is fading.  

 

Tetsuna does not need to be as attuned to her fellow magical girls’ feelings as Ryouna to sense that.  

 

She knows, from the way Taiga’s trident trembles in her tightly-wound fist.

 

She knows, from the way Taiga grins in Tetsuna’s direction as she glides from Witch to Witch, dismissing them one by one.

 

She knows, from the instant she made this ‘contract,’ that she could never have been confident in this choice.

 

The choice, as it were, to give her life in exchange for Kagami Taiga’s short-lived happiness.

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 11 ]**

**_As if you understand what’s going on,_ **

**_as if you’re making up for all the lifetimes_ **

**_in which one of us doesn’t exist,_ **

**_and the ones where we just,_ **

**_barely,_ **

**_never meet._ **

 

**_I hate those._ **

 

(“Don’t forget,” Taiga breathes, a shaking cadence that remains unheard, “what we said would happen if one of us goes before the other.”

 

“Don’t forget,” Taiga breathes, heavy and haggard and struggling just as the Witches converge on her slumped, wounded form.  “You promised you wouldn’t cry over somebody like me, Kuroko.”

 

“Don’t forget,” Taiga breathes, her very last before she falls still in the inconsolable Tetsuna’s arms, “you promised we’ll meet again...in the next life.”)

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 12 ]**

**_I prefer_ **

**_the ones_ **

**_in which_ **

**_you kill me._ **

 

Ah...is this how he meets his end?

 

How ironic.

 

Kindness is his greatest downfall, after all.  

 

As an Agent.  

 

As a person.

 

Betrayal of the worst kind or the best kind -- he can’t be sure.

 

It hardly matters while he’s lying facefirst to pavement, wet with rainwater mixed with blood, asking the same questions he’s had from the day his ‘assignment’ was revealed.

 

Why _him_ , Tsuya thinks as the shouts of his fellow MIRAI Agents grow louder and more urgent, of all the people he could have been sent after?

 

Why _him_ , Tsuya thinks as his vision begins to blur, when it was no secret they had been friends long before Tsuya joined?

 

Why _him_ , Tsuya thinks -- struggling for air, suffering, reaching for his partner Migata’s tear-streaked muddy face, when it should have been me who finished the job?

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 13 ]**

**_But when all’s said and done,_ **

**_I’d rather surrender to you_ **

**_in other ways._ **

 

Bass, bursting to life again behind those paper-thin four walls.

 

Treble, twitching into motion -- inhale, exhale; douse, rinse, repeat.

 

Intervals, sounding out like the way Tetsuya’s nerves sing with surging desire.  


(He wants--

 

He wants--

 

He **wants**.)

 

Worries, wavering and withering into absolute nothingness.

 

Wings, metaphorical feathers that flutter beneath half-formed thoughts.

 

Will, freed from the confines of his ordinary everyday routine.

 

To think all it took was this party -- and the free spirit he met dancing on the bartop counter.

 

(He wants--

 

He wants--

 

He **wants**.)

 

A touch that aches, little flares that linger, leaving trailing flames in bruising marks left wherever they please.

 

A voice that invokes, strange and sudden sentimentality for a one-night stand that could mean something so much more.

 

A memory that burns, resolution in the revelation that he’ll remember this night for years to come.

 

(He needs--

 

He needs--

 

More, more **more** \--)

 

A name, to call when his white-knuckled grip on broad shoulders isn’t enough.

 

A number, to call when his time spent in body-to-body bliss will come to an end.

 

A light, a pulse that’s set off behind closed eyelids when their fingers entwine--

 

(Ah--

 

Ah, is it--

 

Are those...tears on his face--?)

 

“Done already?”

 

“Speak for yourself.  Wasn’t me who was beggin’ for it so hard that he wouldn’t be able to walk tomorrow.”

 

“--Is that so?  Can’t say I recall saying anything of the sort.”

 

“Heh.  You weren’t.  Your face said it all.”

 

“...I’m flattered you spent that much time looking at it, then.”

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 14 ]**

**_Even though each time,_ **

**_I know_ **

**_I’ll see you again,_ **

**_I always wonder._ **

 

Three more minutes, Sujin tells herself as Taeyeon’s silhouette crosses the stage to meet their leader halfway, just three more minutes.

 

It doesn’t stop her from fretting, though.

 

Everything bad comes in threes, don’t they?  

 

Three weeks ago, their tireless Leader, Rico, collapsed during their 3rd ever live performance.

 

Three days ago, Taeyeon was discharged from the hospital.  

 

And three minutes into their encore performance of their first-ever concert tour, Sujin anxiously awaits when it’ll all be over.

 

All so she can slump into Taeyeon’s arms and scream out of sheer relief.

 

She’s missed her Taeyeonnie.

 

She’s missed her Taeyeonnie, her inspiration, her ‘older sister’ who keeps her anchored in this chaotic idol business.  

 

Sujin missed her Taeyeonnie, even when she’s right beside her.

 

That must be why once the song ends, Sujin gets unexpectedly scooped up in Taeyeon’s arms and spun around once, twice, three times and, _ah, I really am the luckiest dongsaeng around, aren’t I?_

 

(That must be why, Sujin realizes then, bad things have to come in threes.)

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 15 ]**

**_Is this the last time?_ **

 

They are friends first, Hunters later.

 

Kuroko doesn’t care to remember anything else besides that.  

 

His family circumstances before taking the Examination.

 

His family before Hyuuga and Riko and Kiyoshi appeared before him.

 

Before Kagami Taiga -- born and raised on Whale Island, cheerful and charismatic -- cast sunlight on his tired monochrome life.

 

Their travels took them across city limits, continents.  Brought them together, drew them apart.  Taught them countless, invaluable lessons on how to fight and how to foster precious bonds.  

 

At the Hunter’s Examination, where everything that could possibly go wrong went most assuredly wrong.

 

In Heaven’s Arena, where constant setbacks extended their training far beyond what they thought possible.

 

In York New City, where Himuro’s path toward vengeance for his clan led them right into the Spiders’ tangled web.

 

On Greed Island, where Kagami’s own father brought them into a fantastic, if dangerous, virtual world.

 

How to rely upon people again, too, in Kuroko’s case.

 

Yet old habits die hard.

 

So this Chimera Ants ordeal has proven, in their many frequent run-ins with said inhuman creatures.

 

So their journeying with Kite-san proved, cut short by lightning-fast claws that put Kuroko’s Godspeed to shame.

 

Or so today’s ‘date’ proved to Kuroko in his attempt to lure Rammot away from a Nen-sealed Kagami.

 

(Because if anything were to happen to Kagami-kun…

 

If anything should ever come to harm Kagami-kun, then--

 

 _No_ , Kuroko hisses when he at last yanks Akashi’s needle right from his forehead, _I would sooner take the blow for him than let anything hurt him._

 

 _I would sooner give up the life in my own eyes than see him lose the light in his._ )

  


Upon encountering Kite, the Chimera Ants, Kuroko convinced himself of as much.

 

Nothing could stand in his and Kagami’s way.

 

Nothing--

 

(Atrocities, abominations, _are you serious_ , and then running, running, running for their barely valued lives, away from Pitou and Kite and the very real chance they could be dead before this fearful ordeal ends--)

 

Nothing could hurt them.

 

Nothing **would** hurt them.

 

Least of all on Kuroko’s watch.

 

(Out the corner of his eye, a shadow, performing some awful undercover work, except this is Kuroko’s domain unlike Rammot’s, stupid Ant wouldn’t know a thing about assassins and tailing people even if it hit him square between the forehead, just like Akashi’s needle that was tugged, tugged, _tugged_ out from his skin until it was gone, gone, gone at last--)

 

“--I’m only saying this because you’re out of control.”  Kuroko’s steady tone is tinged with desperation, like he’s about to run, like he’s afraid he’ll disappear at a moment’s notice.  “But don’t you remember what you said when this all started?”

 

_We would get Kite back to his normal self._

 

_We would fight together._

 

_Together--_

 

“It must be easy for you,

 

Kuroko,

 

Since it means nothing to you.”

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 16 ]**

**_Is that really you?_ **

 

(Kuroko has never been so afraid.

 

But the taut line of Kagami’s shoulders when he begins to walk away from Kuroko -- without looking back -- aren’t what scares him the most.

 

The brutality of Kagami’s assault on the clearly outmatched Pitou -- up until he turns to look at Kuroko, gaze too young for that old face -- isn’t what freezes him in his tracks.

 

The skeletal remains of what’s left of Kagami’s body -- stretched out beneath the blankets, sterilized and sealed within time as, likely, the rest of this emptied hospital building -- aren’t what cause moisture to well up in Kuroko’s eyes.

 

He’s crying because this -- _all_ of this -- is his fault.

 

He’s crying because everything they’ve gone through -- separate, together, as friends closer than most brothers and closer than most soulmates -- are his sin to bear.

 

He’s crying because -- for the first time he can find worth reminiscing -- this brand of kindness should never have been Kagami’s burden in the first place.

 

Not now, not ever.)

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 17 ]**

**_And what if you’re already_ **

**_perfectly happy_ **

**_without me?_ **

 

Every time he turns back time, a new problem arises.

 

No ripple effect created without an aftershock.

 

No prize won without something lost.

 

Tetsuya is tired.

 

He wants to stop.

 

He has to.  

 

His friends have all but scattered to the wind’s capricious direction, what with his research bringing him this far down a dangerous road.

 

But if he does stop, then…

 

What will happen in the past without his time-traveling intervention?

 

What will happen to the future, if not for his meddling in the past?

 

What will happen to Taiga, if he doesn’t stop her assailant in time?

 

So he’ll do it again.

 

He’ll do what he must, resetting the timeline over and over and over again.

 

He’ll do what he has to, trying again and again and again, until he cannot anymore.

 

Until these timelines intersect, until these endless possibilities merge into one, until--

 

With or without him, they _must_ succeed.

 

They have to.

 

He has no other alternatives -- no other motivations -- left.

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 18 ]**

**_Ah, but I don’t blame you._ **

 

All because of pride.

 

Foolish, foolish pride was what got them here in the first place.

 

His foolish pride, in finding Professor Archibald’s package and tearing open the contents out of pure spite.

 

His foolish pride, in believing he could join this Holy Grail War with a borrowed Servant who, really, could have been so much crueler and callous to someone like him.

 

His foolish pride, in finding unmatchable friendship -- and an unbreakable bond -- through a battle that was never his alone to compete in.

 

No, never alone.  

 

Not at all.

 

Former militia leaders, former rebellion fighters.  That was the stuff of legends, wasn’t it?  The stuff of fairytales, even.  

 

Tetsuya was always fond of historical lore like that.

 

Once he met a legend of that caliber, it was hard to imagine anything impossible.

 

The symbol on his hand fizzles and flashes with pain as he calls for that (stubborn, foolish, _foolish_ ) Command Spell.  

 

His one command, his only demand: that Rider won’t go anywhere he can’t follow.

 

His only command, to which his loyal Rider would no doubt submit without being asked.

 

Then-- large arms, swooping down like wings enveloping his (comparatively, embarrassingly) small form.

 

A booming laugh, echoing like the stomping hooves of their chariot (a heralding fanfare, a battle cry) disappearing in the dead of night.

 

Red hair, red beard, red cape.  

 

Red, blanketing him in warmth.  

 

Red, like the affection bubbling forth in his chest.

 

(Red, like the person he’s dreamed about from heroic tales told through prophetic visions of past lives left in the dust long ago, before he knew the name of this person fated to be his savior in a world gone dark.)

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 19 ]**

**_I’ll never burn_ **

**_as brightly_ **

**_as you._ **

 

Kagami, the Swift-Kick Man.

 

His real (full) name: Unknown.

 

He is a fighter, impetuous and quick to anger.

 

He was a commonplace ruffian,

 

He’s a hero, now, a savior of the people of Z City.

 

He could, quite possibly, save all those within the prefecture just by kicking off the ground into the air with single leaping bound.

 

He is, however, no perfect hero.

 

“Why?” Taiga squawks, not expecting the request from his self-proclaimed ‘pupil.’  

 

“Because,” Tetsuya answers, stubborn as ever.  “Do I need to have a reason?”

 

“Not really.”  Awkward, Taiga looks toward sunlight descending below a skyline full of smoke and building debris.  “Just.  Kinda makes me wonder, that’s all.”

 

 _If I told you,_ Tetsuya thinks while the mechanical whirring in his central Core stutters, _you would never believe me_.

 

“Provided that isn’t a no,” says Tetsuya, already jetstreaming for the main road leading back to Taiga’s apartment complex, “let’s leave those wonders until we get home.”

 

His hand outstretched, smile open.

 

The softening of Taiga’s gaze, instantaneous, as he kicks off the ground to fly with him.

 

Even then, their positions are nostalgic.

 

“Shall we head back together,” Tetsuya keeps his stare level and holds his head above , “Sensei?”

  


* * *

 

 

**[ 20 ]**

**_It’s only fair_ **

**_that I should be the one_ **

**_to chase you across_ **

**_ten,_ **

**_twenty-five,_ **

**_a hundred lifetimes._ **

 

He’s accustomed to the endless pursuit.  

 

The innumerable meetings and partings.

 

The eventual recognition, one way or the other.

 

From one person or the other.

 

It’s rare for his most cherished person to be the first to say it.

 

After the _nice to meet you_ s, _thank you_ s, and _I love you_ s have all been expressed, no less.

 

“--It’s you.”  Lying side by side, tangled up in coverlets and each other, Tetsuya never anticipates it would happen like this.  “You’re-- Tetsuya, is that...really...you?”

 

There are tears pouring from Taiga’s eyes when he asks.

 

The way he looks, so unsure and awestruck, has Tetsuya holding back tears of his own.

 

That isn’t even his _name_ in this timeline, besides.

 

“How long,” sighs Tetsuya, like he hasn’t been biting down on his tongue the last ten seconds trying to regain composure enough to speak, “were you planning to keep me waiting, Taiga?”

 

It’s unfair, so **unfair** , to be embraced again like this.

 

They’re in the wrong bodies, the wrong circumstances.

 

Taiga is smaller than him, _younger_ than him by at least five years, maybe more.

 

Tetsuya is a boy trapped in a scarred adult’s body, unsightly to most who haven’t learned of his soldier’s past.

 

But Taiga has always been able to see past his defenses, always able to discern the weaknesses Tetsuya tries (vainly) to hide.

 

“Like you haven’t been keeping me waiting for ages,” Taiga laughs between sobs, clutching the shaking Tetsuya tighter still.  “I remembered everything, just now.  Everything.  Came back to me just like that.”

 

“Everything?”  Face pressed to Taiga’s chest as he is, Tetsuya almost forgets how to breathe.

 

“Everything,” affirms Taiga, and -- finally -- there’s a tangible relief that washes over them both.  

 

(Even if tomorrow’s duties bid them to part, they are glad for that night’s conversation.

 

Even if Tetsuya does not live to spend another night with his beloved, they’re glad to have met the way they did.

 

It was more than a relief to have encountered -- and remembered -- each other at all.)

 

* * *

 

 

**[ 21 ]**

**_Until I find the one where_ **

**_you’ll return to me._ **

**  
** “Kagami-kun.”

 

There is a pause, strained and skeptical.

 

“What’s up, Kuroko?”

 

“...Ah.  Never mind.  I forgot.”

 

An exasperated noise, long-suffering.

 

“Y-You...you ‘forgot’?!”

 

Fabric shifting.

 

“Yes.  I forgot.  That tends to happen to people when they’re tired.”

 

Grumbling, disgruntled.

 

“For the love of-- **seriously** , Kuroko?”

 

A beat of (thoughtful) silence.

 

“Do I look like I’m joking?”

 

Amused, their stares break apart and the taller of the pair starts _crowing_.

 

“Well, you’ve definitely got.  One helluva poker face.  How do you expect me to tell?”

 

A gentler, lighter peal of laughter follows after his.

 

“I’d like to think Kagami-kun knows me well enough to figure it out.”

 

Their shadows, shrouded in moonlight spreading over the basketball court, scoot closer at the top of the bleachers.

 

“Maybe.  Then again, maybe not.  We’ve only been playing on the same team for...how many months has it been?”

 

Easygoing, cordial.

 

“Eight months and counting, Kagami-kun.  Which is -- by most people’s standards -- a significant amount of time.”

 

Inching closer, their shoulders brush, as do their warmth-seeking hands.

 

“Eight months...seems like we’ve known each other way longer than that.”  

 

How odd, that there should be no attempt at apology for knocking Kagami’s basketball off balance from where it was poised on his knee.

 

For their lashes flickering shut, both compelled to a curious sort of quiet.

 

For their mouths suddenly pressed together, an act of intimacy that’s hardly a surprise.

 

Hardly, especially, to these two.

 

“Tetsuya--”

 

“Taiga--”

 

Their voices in unison, their smiles, their first kiss (of many, many more to come) is what would complete the cycle of reincarnation.

 

 

At last.

 


End file.
